German Patent Application No. DE 10 2004 058 803 A1 describes a fuel injector which has a valve seat support, which includes a valve seat that is situated at the end of the valve seat support and encloses a valve opening; a valve needle which is disposed coaxially in the valve seat support and guided in axially displaceable manner, the valve needle, at its end facing the valve seat, having a valve closure element which cooperates with the valve seat in order to close and release the valve opening; an electromagnet for lift actuation of the valve needle, which is provided with an inner, hollow-cylindrical solenoid core, an outer magnetic cup, an interposed solenoid coil connected to a connection plug, and a magnetic armature situated axially opposite the solenoid core, which magnetic armature is disposed at the needle end of the valve needle pointing away from the valve closure element. The valve opening and valve seat are formed on the one-piece valve seat support itself, and the axially displaceable guidance of the valve needle is assigned to the valve seat support, the solenoid coil and connection plug being combined into a plastic extrusion-coated, separate coil part.
German Patent Nos. DE 42 30 376 C1 and DE 44 15 850 A1 describe that an armature section and a valve sleeve section of a valve needle may be produced as one piece through injection molding and subsequent sintering according to the metal injection molding (MIM) method. A non-magnetic intermediate piece fixes the valve seat support in place on the hollow-cylindrical solenoid core, using welding, for instance.
In addition, German Patent Application No. DE 10 2005 036 950 A1 describes that two method processes are used to produce a molded part as a metallic component made up of two parts, each process employing an MIM method. German Patent Application No. DE 10 2005 052 252 A1 describes that one of the components forming the valve housing is shaped by means of metal injection molding.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. U.S. 2009/0127354 A1 describes an injector for which a tube and a housing are produced as an integral component.